How you get SPAM... To begin with the bad guys send SPAM because that's how they make money, it's their job, it's how they make a living... We're talking millions of dollars here... A lot of spammers are very good at what they do and work extremely hard finding viably e-mail addresses. First off they have programs that search the internet, day and night, 24/7, checking every site and web page for anything that resembles an e-mail address... If you've posted your e-mail anywhere on the internet it's on a SPAM list somewhere... When I say anywhere I mean anywhere, on your own web page, in a Guestbook, on a forum post, MySpace, a blog, anywhere it can be seen it can be grabbed by a spammer. They also have programs that generate names for e-mail addresses, anything that can be found in a dictionary, telephone book, lists of baby names, lists of nick names and such... Anyone who has an internet connection can get a list of all the internet providers in the world... So all they have to do is tell the program to use those names with those providers... Instant SPAM list. Years ago my dial up provider gave their customers FREE web sites... To keep track of all the sites the provider used the customers e-mail addresses as the site names and then posted the list of the sites on the home page... Instant SPAM list.... ( Fortunately they've seen the error of their ways... lol ) Ever sign up for anything FREE on the internet or even registered purchased items and they asked if you wanted to be on their mailing list... Yep, instant SPAM list... Well not all the time but if you don't specify what kind of mail you want from them your address can end up on a SPAM list ( especially the FREE stuff ). Ever get a Forwarded e-mail from a friend with a zillion e-mail addresses in it that tells you to add your name to the list and send it to 10 of your friends... Yep, and if you Forward it, you just created another SPAM list. Ever get mail and you weren't quite sure who it was from or the Subject sounded interesting so you Opened it anyway.. Yep!!! You just added your address to an A #1 golden SPAM list because they know it's a good address and they can sell it to other spammers. Those are a just some of the ways they get your address... So what's the answer... Well, get a new address, pick something no one can guess with lots of letters with numbers mixed in, don't give it out to anyone, create a message rule that sends all your mail to the trash and you MAY stop the SPAM for a week or two... lol Seriously though, never, ever reply to SPAM or click on the links to be removed from their list unless you're absolutely positively sure who sent it... Sometimes reporting them to your internet provider works but after you report the first 100 or so your IP may get a little testy (lol)... Your best bet is to just delete them without opening... Sooner or later they'll slow down... Get a free e-mail account to use for registering for stuff, your internet friends and stuff like that... Only use the e-mail account from your internet provider for family and really close computer savvy friends... BTW, Rules to block e-mail addresses or IP's won't work because they use phony addresses... But, you could make a Rule like this.... Where the from line contains people not in my address book, Delete from Server... But the problem with that is if your friends change their e-mail address before telling you their mail won't get through, same goes for replies from any mail you send out to people not in your address book... Rita

Yahooooo! I've had great success doing this: I save all those annoying card inserts that fall out of magazines and cram them in the cc return envelope. I have a postal scale so I make sure the fat envelope weighs over their pre-paid amount. That way, when they get it, they have to pay additional postage. I write "not interested, remove from list...and thanks for your help in my decluttering efforts." It works! I can't believe how effective this is! I've finally made them realize that sending me unasked for cc crap is going to cost them something.

I actually like looking at catalogs. I open my mail near the waste basket in my kitchen. Anything I can recycle goes in my paper recycling box, things I don't need or want go in trash, only bills, correspondence and catlogues I'm interested in make it to my desk.

Nice video... let me add a couple thoughts if I might... corrugated cardboard is merely three sheets of craft paper glued together. I would say nearly all paper shredders should be able to shred three sheets of craft paper... heck running a paper grocery sack through a shredder can be far more demanding (if you don't cut the bottom out separately but instead leave it folded then low power shredders will struggle with it... like my cheapy 5 sheet Aurora). Just be aware that there are different strengths of cardboard used for shipping boxes (I had to do a Google search to learn about the different classifications)... most are easy to shred however some boxes designed for shipping big heavy items such as electronics, subwoofers or gym equipment will be a lot harder on your shredder (as the craft paper used is a much thicker stock and of a stiffer formulation)... still even my cheapy shredder can shred this high-strength cardboard IF I pre-cut it into thin enough strips. Thus leads me to another suggestion.... get a paper cutter. I have an 18" German made paper cutter (self-sharpening blade) and can cut up a typical Amazon box into strips in less than a minute... actually pre-removing the shipping labels and packing tape takes longer to do than actually cutting up the box. For most typical cardboard a 6-8" wide strip is no problem for even my humble lowly powered shredder to handle... for stouter (high-strength) cardboard I may have to cut it down to 3-4" widths to keep from bogging down the motor too much or completely stalling it in cases. The only issue preventing corrugated cardboard from being run through a paper shredder would be the access slot of your particular paper shredder.... I've noticed on some newer shredders the slot appear rather narrow or on some limited to a funny angle. Also I would be very cautious about running "chip-board" through a shredder.... I believe that's the term (hobby-crafters) used for basically packaging cardboard like cereal or tissue or shoe boxes. Those can actually be a lot harder on the shredder blades than corrugated cardboard if its thicker or doubled over, some of that stuff I wouldn't even attempt to run through my shredder at least. Final thoughts... I will reiterate, if the dry paper shreds are simply layered on top of the moist bedding/castings rather than mixed into the top layer, it will not actually clump... yes, it helps to have some cardboard shreds mixed in. Moisture slowly wicks upward into the shreds that is in direct contact thereby softening it and holding in a high humidity environment and the worms will migrate into this portion of the layer and the microbes they bring with them begin the composting process... without any of the paper clumping. I've only discovered this recently (a month) and its working out quite well. No leachate, no clumps, no escapes, and no more fluffing the bedding/castings... I just pull back the shredded layer (I use paper and cardboard... simply depends upon whatever I'm "recycling" at the moment) spread the food down and replace the paper layer, that's it. Oh and in case someone reading doesn't know about oiling paper shredders... think of it as necessary periodic maintenance that must be done to keep down the dust that shredding paper and cardboard creates, this can lead to dull blades and tends to get compacted into the blades eventually causing binding of the motor and overheating issues, basically killing your shredder before its time. To oil a paper shredder you simply take a couple sheets of printer paper and smear vegetable oil (yes it must be a vegetable based oil) over both sides until its saturated then allow it to sit for a few minutes and run this oiled-paper through your shredder... do this at least once a month and your shredder should last a long time.